Blondie wrote:@Patrioticstabilist @Mollypup Ask what type of visa they are attempting to obtain.

All visas issued by our State Dept have an annual quota. I don't know if that is calendar year or budget year which expires Sept 30th.

Once the quota is met, it's a waiting game. Tourist/visitor visa is usually the easiest to obtain and for most countries, limited to 30-90 day stay in the US.

Friends fiancee isn't due to visit until around the holidays. He traveled to Russia last time, this time she visits here. They've done this for years. He went last spring. I know her passport is up to date but I'm not sure about visas & such. I can ask. They have considerable experience with such things. Friend has always found the Russian officials to be quite helpful. He has a 3 yr visa......just acquired this spring. I know they were working on hers, I'm not sure if they got it yet. Since all her family is in Russia, they hope to have the wedding there. Then spend their time between the two countries. They're both approaching retirement age.

I didn't see him tonight at work. I'll try messaging him this weekend.

With South Korea predicting North Korea could launch an intercontinental ballistic missile Saturday, a South Korean expert warned “hot-tempered and reckless” Kim Jong Un will not cease his beloved missile and nuclear program until he is “eliminated.”

South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon said Thursday its neighbor may launch a missile Saturday while celebrating its founding day. The volatile regime is known to put on a show for its citizens during national holidays to display its strength.

“I believe that now is the time to strengthen sanctions to the maximum level while securing military deterrence means. Dialogue is ultimately necessary, but now is not the time to talk about dialogue with North Korea,” Lee said.

North Korea reportedly moved an ICBM toward its west coast earlier this week, according to the South Korean paper Asia Business Daily. The rocket was moved overnight, apparently to avoid detection.

If the test is conducted, it would be the fourteenth one since February. North Korea has fired 21 missiles this year and Sunday’s nuclear test, where it claimed it detonated a hydrogen bomb, will be the sixth one in its history.

Kim Jong Un’s push for full nuclear capability may have developed when he was a “hot-tempered and reckless” teenager, Nam Sung-wook, a Korea University professor who formerly ran the Institute for National Security Strategy said, according to Yonhap News Agency.

"The latest development [North Korea's latest sixth nuclear test] is largely attributable to Kim's wild character. If Kim is not eliminated, this issue [the North's provocation] will persist," Nam told South Korean lawmakers.

Nam, part of Seoul’s spy agency between 2008 and 2012, said the dictator had a short temper, recalling a time he “exploded with foul language” because his girlfriend asked him not to smoke.

"As Kim was smoking at a young age, his girlfriend advised him to quit smoking. Then, Kim exploded with foul language, which was quite shocking [to her]," Nam recalled.

A previous report by Japanese magazine Nikkei Asian Review also recalled talking to sources commenting on Kim’s anger. The leader reportedly “flew into a rage” when he discovered his uncle, Jang Song Thaek, was planning a coup with Chinese officials to have him ousted in 2013.

Jang was executed a short time later.

Nam added: "Any vague fear of Kim is not desirable. Likewise, any simple evaluation of Kim is a no-no."

Experts fear Kim’s unpredictable rage could drive him to launch a nuclear war as he spews bombastic threats toward neighboring countries and the U.S. Lee also said Thursday that North Korea reaching its nuclear goal threatens the “security of the world.”

"North Korea's nuclear armament poses threats not only to the security of Northeast Asia, but also to the security of the world," Lee said. "It is urgently needed for the international community to make concerted efforts."

Son is not being allowed to come home for Christmas, in fact keeping him in S Korea till about 2 weeks before his reportdate in January. I'm thinking things are bad there. Would have been his first Christmas home in many a year, he andall of us are disappointed. We are hoping things will change before then.

He has a lot of leave time he planned to use. But I'm sure they are not wanting to change people right now.

PatrioticStabilist wrote:Son is not being allowed to come home for Christmas, in fact keeping him in S Korea till about 2 weeks before his reportdate in January. I'm thinking things are bad there. Would have been his first Christmas home in many a year, he andall of us are disappointed. We are hoping things will change before then.

He has a lot of leave time he planned to use. But I'm sure they are not wanting to change people right now.

TOKYO -- Japan has begun seriously considering how to withstand and counter an electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, blast that would disable electronics and infrastructure, following North Korea's boast of having the means to mount such an attack.

On Sept. 3, the day Pyongyang conducted its sixth nuclear test, the state-run Korean Central News Agency said the country had developed a nuclear warhead that could also deliver an EMP attack. The powerful waves from such a blast would instantly overload electrical circuits within a certain range. The pulse would likely not cause direct bodily harm but could bring chaos in such areas as power supply and public transportation networks.

An EMP attack could come in two forms, broadly speaking. A high-altitude nuclear explosion, such as that mentioned by Pyongyang, at 30km or above would scatter electromagnetic waves across an extremely wide area. A 1962 nuclear test by the U.S. military, about 400km above the northern Pacific Ocean, caused blackouts as far as 1,400km away in Hawaii.

The second method would be dropping a bomb designed to trigger an EMP blast from a plane, for instance, at a low altitude. Such an explosion would cover a smaller area but be easy to train on a specific target, according to the Ministry of Defense. The U.S. military and others are said to possess such technology, which may have been used in the Iraq War in 2003.

Whether North Korea has indeed made EMP weapons a practical reality is unclear. Tokyo appears skeptical, with Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera describing a "sense of suddenness" about the KCNA report. But some countries certainly could possess such weapons -- such as Russia, believed to have been developing the technology during the Soviet era, and China, hurrying to add to its arsenal. Tokyo "would like to consider" EMP countermeasures, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga has said.

Self-Defense Forces defense equipment and communications systems are prepared for an EMP attack, according to a Japanese government source. Certain equipment and circuits have apparently been covered with metal shielding or other protection so that they can work even in emergencies. The Defense Ministry has requested 1.4 billion yen ($12.8 million) in the government's fiscal 2018 budget for such steps as the production of an EMP weapon prototype for preparation of defenses.

But protections for civilian infrastructure are seen as lacking. An attack targeting nuclear power infrastructure, for instance, or such public transportation as aircraft could cause immense damage. The government convened Cabinet Secretariat members Friday, as well as representatives from relevant ministries -- such as for defense, the economy and transport -- to start planning countermeasures.

Unlike a cyberattack, an EMP attack could render critical infrastructure and systems permanently unusable. In the event of a situation effectively amounting to an armed attack, "depending on the scale of the damage, an armed counterattack by the Self-Defense Forces" would not be ruled out, a Cabinet Secretariat official said.

South Korea could not determine if the gas was from a Hydrogen bomb or not.

South Korea has detected a radioactive xenon gas from a nuclear missile that North Korea launched earlier this month – the country’s sixth ever nuclear missile launch. The North had also threatened that it now has a Hydrogen bomb it can place on an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), but South Korea was unable to determine if the gas it detected is from an H-bomb.

Xenon gas is used to make certain types of lights; it is colorless and odorless. The type of xenon gas that South Korea detected has been connected to North Korean missile tests in the past. Xenon-133 – the type of gas detected in South Korea – does not occur naturally.

“The Nuclear Safety and Security Commission [NSSC] said its land-based xenon detector in the northeastern part of the country found traces of xenon-133 isotope on nine occasions, while its mobile equipment off the country’s east coast detected traces of the isotope four times,” according to a report.

“‘It was difficult to find out how powerful the nuclear test was with the amount of xenon detected, but we can say the xenon was from North Korea,” said Choi Jongbae, executive commissioner, according to the report.

The gas has no impact on the environment and people in South Korea, the report added.

The United Nations Security Council on Monday voted unanimously to pass its strongest sanctions yet on North Korea following its sixth ever successful nuclear missile launch and the country’s H-bomb claims.

The sanctions, while watered down from original drafts, fully ban the country’s textile exports and reduce its oil and petroleum exports. This means about 90 percent of North Korea’s exports are now banned, as well as a complete ban on the country’s overseas laborers that provide nearly $500 million in revenue. Additionally, all foreign investment with North Korea is cut off, and the regime’s assets will be frozen.

The United Nations in August unanimously approved sanctions against North Korea in response to Kim Jong Un’s two successful intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in July.

Then, North Korea threatened “thousands-fold” revenge on the United States following those sanctions, which cut North Korea’s export revenue by $1 billion, or about a third. The sanctions banned North Korea from exporting coal, iron, iron ore, lead, lead ore and seafood.

North Korea’s sixth nuclear missile test caused a 6.3 earthquake and was roughly five times as large as the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, Japan. The test came hours after North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un claimed that it now had an H-bomb to put onto its long-range ICBMs.

SEOUL — North Korea’s powerful nuclear test earlier this month may have been even stronger than first reported, equivalent to roughly 17 times the strength of the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima, according to a new analysis by a U.S. monitoring group.

North Korea’s Sept. 3 nuclear test, its sixth and biggest, showed how much progress it has made on its nuclear and missile program.

Preliminary estimates had found the yield, or the amount of energy released by the blast, to have been about 100 kilotons. In comparison, the bomb detonated over Hiroshima in 1945 released about 15 kilotons of energy.

But a new analysis by 38 North, run by the U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, found North Korea’s test may have been much stronger.

In other words, the North Korean test may have been almost 17 times stronger than the bomb detonated over Hiroshima. This is close to what 38 North previously calculated as the maximum yield that could be contained at the underground Punggye-ri test site.

This new estimate by 38 North is much higher than those of the U.S. government and its allies at the time. The United States intelligence assessment put the blast at 140 kilotons, Japan at 160 kilotons and South Korea at 50.

Satellite imagery showed the test resulted in many more landslides than after any of the previous five tests, according to the 38 North analysis.

North Korea described the device it had detonated as a hydrogen bomb designed to be carried by a long-range missile capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. The international community widely condemned the test and within 10 days, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved its toughest sanctions on the country to date.

In the wake of the North Korean test, both the United States and South Korea are highlighting their own military readiness.

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis is traveling Wednesday to Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota, the epicenter of American nuclear arsenal, with more than 100 land-based nuclear missiles and aircraft to carry them.

While the South Korean Air Force on Wednesday conducted its first live-fire drill to test its preemptive strike capability, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry.

Today, there was a report that notes a NOKO 'expert' is stating that there is "no way to stop" NOKO! QUOTE from the article: "the warning coming amid Pyongyang's continued threats to sink Japan and blast the U.S. “into ashes and darkness.”

There’s “no way to stop” Kim Jong Un’s regime and its missile and nuclear program, a North Korea expert told Fox News on Thursday, the warning coming amid Pyongyang's continued threats to sink Japan and blast the U.S. “into ashes and darkness.”

Leading Seoul-based North Korea expert Andrei Lankov told Fox News that Kim Jong Un is accelerating his missile and nuclear program “much faster than anybody expected.”

“They want to get the point of having a sufficient number of intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of destroying a sufficient number of American cities,” Lankov said.

The expert expressed doubt about reining in North Korea’s trajectory in achieving its military goal, adding the use of any “military force” would send the peninsula into war. He said sanctions and regional diplomacy wouldn’t work, either.

“I don’t think, unfortunately, there is no way to stop them,” Lankov said. “No way…A use of military force, but that would result in a second Korean war. That would be an absolute disaster.”

He added: “They will not want to talk about denuclearization…they could talk about a nuclear freeze…in exchange for political and economic concessions."

Lankov provided a glimmer of hope amid the dour analysis, saying he’s only “mildly worried” and believes Kim is rational and knows a war with the U.S. would end his regime.

“It is alarming, there is the probability of mistakes, misunderstandings, stupidity…just bad luck,” Lankov added.

North Korea continued its bombastic and bellicose threats against the U.S. and its neighbors on Thursday – this time vowing to sink Japan with a nuclear bomb and reduce the U.S. “into ashes and darkness.”

"The four islands of the archipelago should be sunken into the sea by the nuclear bomb of Juche. Japan is no longer needed to exist near us," a statement released by the state’s official Korean Central News Agency said. “Let’s reduce the U.S. mainland into ashes and darkness. Let’s vent our spite with mobilization of all retaliation means which have been prepared till now."

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga called the threat “extremely provocative and outrageous" and said it “significantly escalates tension in the region and is absolutely unacceptable.”

South Korea President Moon Jae-in on Thursday dismissed the notion of developing or receiving nuclear arms in an attempt to deter the North, according to Yonhap News Agency.

"I share the view that the South has to increase its defense capabilities in response to the North's advancing nuclear and missile capabilities, but I don't agree to the idea of South Korea developing nuclear arms on its own or seeking the redeployment of tactical nukes," he said.

A new round of sanctions against North Korea was issued on Monday after the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to pass the resolution which bans all natural gas liquids and condensates but caps crude oil imports. All textile exports are also banned and countries are prohibited from authorizing new work permits for North Korean workers.

But despite efforts to sink the regime’s economy, North Korea seems to be moving forward with its nuclear and missile program, reportedly resuming work at its underground nuclear testing site, according to defense analysts. A report by 38 North said satellite images captured a large cargo truck at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site on Sept. 8, possibly prepping for another nuclear detonation. The regime conducted its sixth nuclear test earlier this month.

“Such activity, coming shortly after the largest underground nuclear test conducted at Punggye-ri to date (via the North Portal), suggests that onsite work could now be changing focus to further prepare those other portals for future underground nuclear testing,” the report said.

North Korea fired another ballistic missile over Japan before landing in the Pacific Ocean, South Korea's military said Friday.

The missile was launched from Sunan – the location of North Korea's international airport in Pyongyang – around 6:57 a.m. and traveled about 2,300 miles, South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff said.

Japan's state broadcaster NHK said the recent missile was fired toward the northeast of Japan.

President Trump was briefed on the North's missile launch Thursday, the White House said.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called out China and Russia for not standing up to North Korea.

"China supplies North Korea with most of its oil. Russia is the largest employer of North Korean forced labor," Tillerson said in a statement. "China and Russia must indicate their intolerance for these reckless missile launches by taking direct actions of their own."

An emergency UN Security Council meeting on North Korea has been scheduled for Friday afternoon.

The latest launch comes as North Korea’s propaganda arm suggested the hermetic nation could send Japan “into the sea,” ruffling feathers in an already tense region.

“The four islands of the (Japanese) archipelago should be sunken into the sea by the nuclear bomb of Juche,” the Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee said in a statement carried Thursday by the Korea Central News Agency. “Japan is no longer needed to exist near us.”

Juche is North Korea’s term for its ideology of self-reliance.

The North's propaganda threat came after the UN Security Council passed its toughest sanctions yet against North Korea, which earlier this month conducted its sixth nuclear test.

The statement Thursday referred to the 15-member UN Security Council as a “tool of evil” comprised of “money-bribed” nations led by the U.S.

North Korea additionally threatened to “reduce the U.S. mainland into ashes and darkness.”

“Let’s vent our spite with mobilization of all retaliation means which have been prepared till now,” reads the statement from the Peace Committee, which is tied to the Workers’ Party that runs North Korea.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga called the remarks provocative and said this “escalates tensions in the region.”

“If North Korea stays the course that it is on, it will increasingly become isolated from the world,” Suga told reporters, according to Bloomberg.

Thursday’s tension flareup also came amid reports that its Sept. 3 weapon test diminished the peak of a mountain.

The test appeared to be done on an 85-acre side known as Punggye-ri, the Washington Post reported.

Synthetic Aperture Radar images captured via satellite on Aug. 26 and Sept. 6 showed changes to Mount Mantap before and after North Korea tested what it said was a hydrogen bomb.

“Prior to the test, Mount Mantap was 2,205 meters high; the mountain has since diminished in height,” Jeffrey Lewer of James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies wrote on the Arms Control Wonk blog.

North Korea likely tested the hydrogen bomb in an older tunnel complex below the mountain, he continued.

The isolated dictatorship’s mounting weapons program has spooked neighbor South Korea.

A Gallup Korea poll published last week found 60% of the nation’s citizens favor it developing its own nuclear weapons, while 35% opposed the idea.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in threw cold water on that suggestion.

" “I do not agree that South Korea needs to develop our own nuclear weapons or relocate tactical nuclear weapons in the face of North Korea's nuclear threat,” Moon told CNN on Thursday in his first interview since North Korea’s latest weapons test.

He did, however, say South Korea “needs to develop our military capabilities in the face of North Korea's nuclear advancement.”

Tillerson arrived in London on Thursday to discuss North Korea — as well as Libya — with British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.

A day earlier, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis warned North Korea its nuclear weapons were no match for the U.S. arsenal.

“You can leave no doubt at all,” Mattis told reporters during a trip to a nuclear weapons base in North Dakota. “Don’t try it. It won’t work. You can’t take us out.”